NEW VIDEO: The second in the series of weirdo UK chart-toppers, here is a look at the 90s. Elsewhere there was the mainstreaming of grunge and gangsta rap, but in the UK we had the giant pink and yellow pear-shaped thing that scared children and other odd things. Take a look!

Sabrina Carpenter is a gen x lounge singer trapped in the body of a Polly Pocket. Sabrina Carpenter is countryfied britpop. Sabrina Carpenter is a paper maché Ann Margaret. Sabrina Carpenter is David Foster Wallace in a peignoir set. Sabrina Carpenter is postmodernism itself. Sabrina Carpenter is.

NEW VIDEO: After MySpace, but before Spotify truly took hold, a bunch of waistcoated indie folk groups were stomping, clapping and hey-ing their way into our hearts. Just over a decade later and it's considered the worst thing to happen to music since Simon Cowell. Here is who to blame.

NEW VIDEO: Do you ever think about how aggressively uncommercial In The Air Tonight is? It's glacially slow, its first lyrics don't appear until a minute and a half in and its powered for the most part by a drum machine: yet debut single of perhaps the most famous drummer ever. youtu.be/U0kCxNj_4hs

NEW VIDEO: If you were a US punk band in the 80s, you weren't doing it for the money. Punk rock was a calling. There were no material rewards. And that's what The Offspring thought too... until they became one of the biggest selling rock bands of the 90s. Hear their full story: youtu.be/Pfi8iX3Y938

NEW VIDEO: Have you ever wondered how Shaddap You Face got to number one in the UK? How about the electro-documentary of 19, or the wonderfully goofy Star Trekkin'? Here are the "how" stories for these songs, plus 7 more. The Most Bizarre UK No.1s of the 1980s. Check it out!

from the writer of GUY RITCHIES ALADDIN GUY RITCHIES AMADEUS Jason statham: name's salieri. famous fucker, me. until - *freeze frame and record scratch on mozart* this precocious prick plonked his arse at the piana fuckin forte

NEW VIDEO: The B-52's are known for many things: Wigs, Rock Lobster, that Tomacco episode of The Simpsons where they reworked Love Shack into Glove Slap. This might make you think them slight, a novelty, but they are more important than you think. youtu.be/YN1quwTNPLo

The second instalment in the ‘alt-rock horror comics’ series - Mudhoney’s Touch Me I’m Sick.

NEW VIDEO: My timing is terrible. TEN DAYS AGO The Cult's unifying rock anthem She Sells Sanctuary had its 40th birthday. YESTERDAY was World Goth Day. Either would've been a great day to release this video. Instead it's National Taffy day, watch a video on The Cult. youtu.be/LEuRBQo-QEY

What is your favourite British "alternative" single of 1985?

May 10th 1994 One of the greatest days

If you can’t handle me at my Dance Yourself Clean 0:00-3:05 you don’t deserve me at my Dance Yourself Clean 3:06-8:56

SOME ITALIAN MAIN COURSES ARE THE ONES WITH RED SAUCES SOME ITALIAN MAIN COURSES ARE THE ONES WITH RED SAUCES SOME ITALIAN MAIN COURSES ARE THE ONES WITH RED SAUCES SOME ITALIAN MAIN COURSES ARE THE ONES WITH RED SAUCES 🎵 FILLING BOLOGNESE, HUH?

NEW VIDEO: Paul McCartney is pretty well known as a musician. But even as familiar as the former Beatle is, he still has moments in his back catalogue that hit you from out of left-field. For example learn the story of McCartney II, his 1980 homemade dive into Synth-Pop. youtu.be/yNLGbGJLzcU

A celebration of the discography of PJ Harvey via a bunch of loose, doodly sketches of album covers.

This is all going to get harder, but they literally cannot legislate you out of existence. When tomorrow arrives, you will still be here, you will still be who you are, and we will all still be here with you.

NEW VIDEO: Well kinda... Here is my revisit of the development of Synth-Pop video I made four years ago, now twice as long with a bunch of bands and artists I forgot about including Stevie Wonder, DEVO, Sparks, Yellow Magic Orchestra, John Carpenter, and many many more. youtu.be/NLuSOMzSy9k

NEW VIDEO: This time we look at Violent Femmes, their legacy as a building block in alternative rock, folk punk and alt country, “Blister In The Sun” not being a song from the 90s, and the weird moment where the band showed up on Sabrina The Teenage Witch. Check it out! youtu.be/8XP706O7uzY

Blue Monday is 42 years old today! Learn more about the track that truly got New Order out of the shadow of Joy Division, the vital link between "I Feel Love" and the future of dance music, in this classic episode of New British Canon. youtu.be/70LF-MIX1xw

Gorillaz's debut single Clint Eastwood was released 24 years ago today! Learn how it all came together in this classic episode, as a quartet of cartoons introduced the world to their unique collision of trip-hop, post-punk, reggae, spaghetti westerns and George Romero. youtu.be/ew6E4mIgh0o

Tears For Fears' Songs From The Big Chair album is 40 today! Shout, shout and let it all out by watching this classic video on the boys from Bath, and learn about the struggles of making their landmark second album, as well as their darker Janov-inspired debut. youtu.be/Ke3xktAJgyg

Brian Eno's "Ambient 1" only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it went on to start an airport.

Reposting for those that may have missed it: New British Canon presents the frustrated genius of "There She Goes" and The La's

NEW VIDEO: For Valentines, here's the story of the best indie love song of the 1980s: It's The La's with "There She Goes". One of things I learnt while making this one, or at least was forced to remember, is that the middle-eight to this song is pure pop bliss. Check it out: youtu.be/LEGCUiDpeXM

Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy is 34 years old today. A now-eternal sounding collision of strings, soul and British hip-hop beats, hear the song's full story in this classic (first) episode of New British Canon. youtu.be/Owog55voMcs

Jawbreaker's stellar album 24 Hour Revenge Therapy released 31 years ago today. Learn the story of the punk band that could've been the next Green Day but were undone by the scene that birthed them. youtu.be/EntSXLZW7M8

DID YOU KNOW: Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence" is 35 today? Learn the story of how the band went from a NME punching bag to Modern Rock giants by watching this classic New British Canon episode. youtu.be/OGZOVxt6rvw

For those who missed it earlier in the week: the twenty year drama of British boyband Take That.

NEW VIDEO: Take That were the biggest boyband Britain ever produced. When they split, their songwriter Gary Barlow was the one everyone was expecting to have the unstoppable solo career. But it didn't quite happen like that. This is the flip side of Better Man. youtu.be/Be-kfJThLm0

Can you believe it? Peter Gabriel's Games Without Frontiers was released 45 years ago today! Why not watch this classic New British Canon episode about how this monumental single came together with a little help from Phil Collins and Kate Bush? youtu.be/rNITD4QyS7c

NEWEST MUSIC VIDEO TIME! And we are talking about the history behind the legendary music video to A-ha's "Take on Me"! Check it out and thanks for your time. #musicvideotime youtu.be/P-SHDBkdV4c

Obligatory yearly reminder that College & Electric Youth’s “A Real Hero” is about Sully (and Mad Max)

"Weak" by Skunk Anansie was released as a single 29 years ago today. Learn about the struggles and triumphs of the self-described "Clitpop" band in this classic episode of New British Canon. youtu.be/Zc-0ooePqaA

"Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand is 21 today! Celebrate the anniversary by watching this classic New British Canon episode, and discover its place in the lineage of Scottish indie pop and the source for its out-there central metaphor. youtu.be/j8Y1XSukU3k

Feeder's Buck Rogers was released 24 years ago today. Relive the story of this essential Britrock sing-along in this classic episode. Is he drinking cider from eleven or a lemon? Watch to find out! youtu.be/Oh9mqIX1YUo

The new video now has subtitles!

NEW VIDEO: As a special gift, here is seven episodes of New British Canon in one. All about seven highly influential British post-punk bands where there isn't really enough information or footage to make a full length video. Enjoy! youtu.be/z1no60Ju-X4

It has been a, uh, difficult week but I have not laughed louder and harder at something in a very long time than at this.

Dig through the ditches and burn through the witches I'm stuck in the back of my cybertruck

I'm starting to wonder how many people following me know I do YouTube videos? If not, here's the video I did covering the history of Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" youtu.be/nzp95cKbHJc

NEW VIDEO: The Cure are many things to many people. But at their heart, they are the band of doom, lethargy and winter nights. While they had dallied within a more pop space during the mid-80s, by 1989 and Disintegration they had returned to their most comforting mode. youtu.be/TmjxAd_dCng

i wish there was a song for those of us who are not sick, yet arent entirely well either

artists you've seen by letter Alvvays Blur Charlie XCX Deftones Enter Shikari FKA twigs Grimes Hundred Reasons I Was A Cub Scout Jawbreaker Kacey Musgraves Lucy Dacus MCR NOFX Offspring Phoebe Bridgers QOTSA Reuben Shellac Turnstile U Voxtrot Wildhearts Xcerts You Me At Six ZZ Top

Bad day at work. Another ballet student fell into the room full of barbed wire. Not even sure why we have that.

NEW VIDEO: In what could be described as a late Halloween video (Tears for FEARS?), I look at the Bath duo and how their therapy-based synth pop is so often misinterpreted by listeners. From Mad World to Shout and Everybody Wants to Rule the World...

48 years ago today, The Damned released "New Rose". Considered to be the first UK Punk Single, this zippy three minute love song to the movement that birthed it still sounds fresh today. Hear its story in this classic episode of New British Canon:

NEW VIDEO: Emerging from London's Sound System culture, Soul II Soul were a thrilling mix of soul, reggae, dance and hip-hop. Here we look back at their debut Club Classics Vol. One and why that cheeky title proved prophetic. Watch below:

NEW VIDEO: Emerging from London's Sound System culture, Soul II Soul were a thrilling mix of soul, reggae, dance and hip-hop. Here we look back at their debut Club Classics Vol. One and why that cheeky title proved prophetic. Watch below: